Like it or not, most rooms corrupt even the best subwoofers, ours included. Sometimes a bit, sometimes so badly that music and movie bass is hopelessly muddled, unbalanced, and well, wrong. If you spent money on a quality SVS subwoofer, we already know you are in search of deep and natural sounding bass that sounds just right instead. So while we’ve arguably made the best subs in the world for years now, we couldn’t fix your room.

Till now that is. If you follow movie and music technology news, you might know this “box”, the AS-EQ1 sub EQ, has been in development for over two years. SVS, working in partnership with Audyssey Labs, the most respected name in audio room-correction technology, has finally begun production. And so at long last they are available at a special pre-order price, for Spring delivery. Be one of the first with the power to get the most out of any sub (or subs), in any room.

What do you get? Everything you need, in one slick looking, stand-alone box which neatly integrates into nearly any theater or music system. Fire up the graphical user interface (GUI) and operating software on your Window’s laptop, and you’ll experience virtually perfect bass in minutes. And we mean that, no matter how challenging your room or your subwoofer placement might be. In fact, we guarantee it. Acoustical nightmares are cleaned up fast as you can move the included microphone through your room. It’s actually fun to use. Imagine.

Of course this is a flagship product, so inside are absolute state of the art components and proprietary Audyssey bass correction logic that actually listens to your sub. The AS-EQ1 pulses it with carefully calibrated tests sweeps and tones, and does this in up to 32 positions (standing, seated, you name it). When you are done, you don’t have a sweet “spot” in your room, you have a “sweet room“. Flat, even and “tight”. This is the best possible bass you can get in every seat. And it’s even smart enough to adjust for two subs independently. Once they are put in phase by the box, it calculates the ideal flat frequency response for your sub, which most any music and movie audio professional will recommend.

Magnetic faceplate removed. Mic and GUI controls up front where you need them, hidden when you don’t!

Some AV receivers have decent capability to correct for room anomalies, but nothing, not even the previously most powerful professional solutions at Audyssey Labs, have more power to make your bass right. Since the GUI runs on your laptop, there’s no need to even turn on your projector or TV. After a few minutes, guided step by step on screen, you are done. Replace the beautifully sculpted (and magnetically retained) aluminum faceplate, and it’s time to rock and roll. One note: While we work in the audio business, even we hate reading manuals but you’ll probably not even open ours, it’s that intuitive to set up and use. Of course our famous lifetime technical support is available 7 days a week, thru SVS or one of our exclusive resellers outside the USA.

The sub EQ results are just jaw-dropping. The worse your room is, the better this box works to make it right. It corrects for acoustical room anomalies not with the brute-force manipulation of crude IIR filters found in conventional PEQs, but instead with the finesse and sophistication of FIR-based filters which don’t cause phase/time-domain anomalies and distortions which corrupt your sound. So even if you picked horrible locations for your sub (or subs) the AS-EQ1’s highly sophisticated deep bass correction algorithms, optimized by Audyssey, quickly pull into focus the flat, deep and naturally coherent response you won’t ever get with lesser technologies.

This box might not be for dyed-in-the-wool “tweakers” who sometimes want different frequency response curves than “flat” (even if less accurate). While a conventional PEQ will invariably result in a less accurate frequency response, can cause noticeable artifacts

can’t correct for more than one listening position, and can’t handle dual subs, it’s still better than nothing. So if you like spending nights and weekends wrestling with spreadsheets, SPL meters, difficult-to-learn measurement software, and endlessly tweaking your manual PEQ – well maybe the AS-EQ1 isn’t for you. For the rest of us who would rather be watching movies and listening to music with a minimum investment of time and learning curve, the AS-EQ1 is simply the most powerful, fastest, and easiest way to get stunning bass.

It’s also not a box you need if you are blessed with perfect room response already. Nearly no rooms are, but it happens. If you measure adequately flat bass, you might leave well enough alone. And of course, we don’t recommend people buy an $800 bass-correction solution to use with mediocre subs either. If you have a sub that’s not powerful enough or deep enough for your needs, it makes sense to upgrade there first naturally.

But this still affordable box is the best way to optimize any sub, even big “do it yourself” (DIY) subwoofers, virtually eliminating room factors that distort sound. Entry level customers with limited audio budgets might decide instead to just get a good current AV receiver offering less-robust correction systems to economize. Yet no receiver based room correction system has the sheer refinement and processing horsepower, nor can it cope with dual subs nearly as well. Leave the AS-EQ1 as an upgrade on par with any consideration you put towards dual subs, or investing in any world-class sub from SVS such as our PB13-Ultra and PC13-Ultra, or top subs from elsewhere.

Above is but one quick 7 position correction done with two different model SVS subs plopped in an old home, with just basic setup. One in a corner one not, put where the subs looked right and fit into the available space. You can see the “before” results on the left of the chart. Not the worst frequency response you might have seen, but certainly nothing you want to show your mother. Much less your audio enthusiast friends.. Twin subs working this wacky just are not going to sound focused, tight and well, right. PEQ experts can fix some of this, but with twin subs, well, forget about any sanity that weekend. Getting dual subs to “play nice” isn’t twice as hard as optimizing one sub, sometimes, it’s four times harder. No longer though. More results pages of real rooms we’ve visited around the world with early Beta versions of the AS-EQ1 will be posted here soon.

These results then? Call it a 10 min “down an dirty” run through, as you might do just putting your system into a room for the first time. Yet, the AS-EQ1 is so powerful, you can measure up to 32 positions in any room, for either one or two subs. Take seated measurements where friends and family gather, and even some from common standing areas in your listening room. Measure wherever you care to create your sweet spot in the room. But because the AS-EQ1 is measuring multiple locations, it’s not making a sweet “spot” but a “sweet room“. So goodbye to the uneven bass from seat to seat. Things bass fans once accepted as “the limitations of bass in a typical home”. Accept this no longer.

Sound Correction Results

And this sub EQ “talks” to your AVR too; allowing your receiver to runs its room correction, but leaving the far more complicated and processor intensive subwoofer correction to the AS-EQ1. These are nulls and peaks which defy “room treatments” such as bass traps, and would give even the most ardent user of old-fashioned PEQ devices fits. The heavy-duty DSP power isn’t needed by everyone then, but it IS the fix many rooms need. The refinement over such un-corrected rooms is startling. Both audible and visual recorded results of “before” and “after” are typically quite obvious. How different those two curves actually sound might not be so intuitive, but hearing it work makes believers out of virtually everyone without one of those perfect rooms (which again is nearly everyone).

Even long-standing SVS staff have a new appreciation for how good our subs really are. After using it for over a year we’ve concluded it’s a “must have” for any aspiring high-end system. “Simple to operate” was part of the “must have” concept. We admit it, SVS doesn’t like spending time fiddling with room response, especially with yesterday’s limited technology. Actually watching movies and listening to music is what we prefer. Effective is no good without ease of use. The AS-EQ1 is both.

Shipping should start first in Asia (most components are configured at a very high end firm in Taipei, final assembly and testing will be done in our Ohio factory however). Introductory price will be PHP39,000. We’re not sure how long our first run will last. Order soon to reserve yours now at this special price. Our widely acclaimed Customer Service department backs all users with questions and an on-line support page at SVS will make software updates as easy as opening the page here.

Audio lovers, perfect bass is finally possible, easy, and downright fun to achieve. Your AV receiver investment is solidified since the AS-EQ1 is compatible with any sort you have. Your bass needs are covered no matter what your current or future room look like. Switch one on, run setup, and you won’t ever switch it off. Harness the power and refinement of your system, and take the room out of the equation, finally.